'Billy the Kid' Season 2 Part 2 Interview: Tom Blyth

Moviefone speaks with Tom Blyth about 'Billy the Kid' Season 2 Part 2. "He's a character that everyone thinks they know because he's a historic legend'.

Premiering on MGM+ beginning June 2nd is the second part of the second season of ‘Billy the Kid,’ which stars Tom Blyth (‘The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes’) as the infamous outlaw, Daniel Webber (‘Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga’) as Jesse Evans and Alex Roe (‘The 5th Wave’) as Pat Garrett.

Related Article: Executive Producer Michael Hirst Talks MGM+'s 'Billy the Kid' Season 2

Tom Blyth in 'Billy the Kid' season 2 part 2. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc.

Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Tom Blyth about his work on ‘Billy the Kid’ season 2 part 2, Billy’s role in the Lincoln County War, his friendship with Pat Garrett, his rivalry with Jesse Evans, playing Billy over two seasons, and if it is fun making a Western.

You can read the full interview below or click on the video player above to watch the interview.

(Center) Tom Blyth in 'Billy the Kid' season 2 part 2. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc.

Moviefone: To begin with, the Lincoln County War has already begun. Can you talk about Billy’s role in the war and how that will continue in the second half of season 2?

Tom Blyth: I mean, the Lincoln County War is what Billy is known for really. That's where he made his name. He was this 20-year-old kid who basically took the county by storm because he was the only person willing to stand up for the injustice that he saw. That is true, he was like a Robin Hood figure in that sense. He really did want to stick it to the man and the man were these politicians in New Mexico who were just basically profiteering off the little people. We pick up at part two, coming out on June 2nd. Part two begins where we left off with Tunstall (Linus Roache) being killed, who was his mentor and father figure. Billy’s grieving. He's also lost his beloved Dulcinea (Nuria Vega), which ended in a fiery fight where he didn't want to give up the life and she needed him to give up the life. All he's got left is the regulators and the guys around him who also want to try and fight to end the corruption in their neighborhood. We see him basically stepping up to become a leader after people for a long time were trying to make him a leader. He's finally ready to step into those shoes and become a General, basically.

MF: Can you talk about Billy’s friendship with Pat Garrett and how that will change now that Pat is Sheriff?

TB: I love what (executive producer) Michael Hirst has done with it because I don't think any of us before we read the scripts expected that Pat was going to come back so soon because the Lincoln County War was just started. The fact that at the end of part one, we saw Pat come back into Lincoln and announced himself as the new sheriff, it begs the question, whose side is he going to be on? He's got old friends on both sides. He's got Jesse's gang on the side of the house, Billy and his friends on the other side. Pat himself is in a tricky situation where he's going to want to be an honorable law enforcement member, or at least he thinks he is. He's got two old friends on either side trying to get him to take their side. It's a very tricky human situation to be in, except the stakes are life and death.

Alex Roe as Pat Garrett in 'Billy the Kid' season 2 part 2. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc.

MF: Obviously, we know how Billy and Pat’s story ended in real life, but has it been fun for you to tease out that relationship in this series?

TB: Yeah, I mean there's so much that we don't know as well. Some people think that Pat maybe colluded with Billy and let him get away. The history books tell us otherwise that Pat killed him eventually. The beauty of the dramatization is that we get to tell our own story. There are these two different truths that everyone thinks they know, and we get to work out what happened in between that. We don't know where Michael Hirst wants to take it yet, and only he knows that whether he's going to go with one of the two choices or go somewhere else in entirely. What we do know is that there is a whole massive relationship between Billy and Pat that is rich and troubled and that we don't really know much about. The one book that is written about this time and about Billy and Pat was from Pat's perspective. It's interesting for Michael to write something that is not from Pat's perspective, and we get to see or imagine what might have happened in the lead up to that.

MF: Can you talk about the rivalry between Billy and Jesse Evens, how that escalates in the second part of season 2 and what it’s been like working with Daniel Webber?

TB: I love Daniel. He's become a very close friend. It's funny, you can't help but adopt some of your character's traits and characteristics and point of view. Daniel and I laugh about it after we wrap. When we're doing a scene together, we often get quite heated and it's always good. We do go head-to-head on set and then afterwards we're like, "What was that?" We're like, "The characters are coming out in us." Daniel and I have this kind of healthy competition that comes out naturally when we're trying to work through a scene and it just fuels the scene, I think. Usually, it means that we do capture that kind of brotherly competition that they have and it's so much fun. Me and Dan have a lot of love for each other.

Tom Blyth in 'Billy the Kid' season 2 part 2. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc.

MF: What have you learned about the life of Billy the Kid from playing this character over two seasons and has it been difficult bringing humanity and sympathy to the character?

TB: He's a character that everyone thinks they know because he's a historic legend. Again, the history books are written from people's perspectives. Like Pat Garrett wrote the main book on Billy. Pat Garrett is also the man who's supposedly killed him, so I don't know if we can take his word for it. Because of that, I've tried to formulate my own opinions, but really what I must do is not judge him. If I judge him, I can't really portray him as a full human because then I'm going to be portraying him with a lens of judgment or a lens of was, he good? Was he bad? I'm way more interested in just keeping him in the present and in the decision making and the choices he makes, then the audience can decide for themselves. I don't think anyone thinks they're bad. Even people who commit atrocities probably don't think they're the bad one. They probably think they're right somehow. Billy is somewhere on that spectrum and it's interesting to delve into that.

MF: Finally, director John Ford once said, “If they knew how fun it is to make Westerns, they wouldn’t let us do it.” Do you agree with that? Is it fun making a Western?

TB: Wholeheartedly, I think that's why they keep coming back because it is so much fun to make, unbelievable amounts of fun. It's just putting on a hat and playing make believe, which is the purest form of TV and filmmaking. I think that translates to the screen. I think that's why people like to watch them is because you can just sense that there's like a swashbuckling, they're like the pirate theme on land. There's something adventurous about it, which speaks to our inner child. Yeah, it's so much fun. By the end of season two, I got proficient. I feel comfortable in a saddle. When I'm not doing it, I miss it.

Billy the Kid

TV-MA2 SeasonsApril 24th, 2022

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What is the plot of ‘Billy the Kid’ Season 2 Part 2?

In Season 2 of ‘Billy the Kid’, Billy (Tom Blyth) gets caught in the middle of the Lincoln County War, a murderous conflict driven by money, greed and corruption. After enjoying a monopoly, Murphy's Store is no longer the only player in town when Englishman John Tunstall (Linus Roache) moves to Lincoln and sets off a commercial rivalry. Law-and-order is no match for cowboy gangs and a secret society. Wild chases and shootouts abound. There are innumerable ambushes and killings. No-one is safe. After a pivotal assassination, things get very ugly, leaving Billy the Kid with an uncertain fate. Will he make it out of the Lincoln County War alive?